Major Crush On Tom M Riddle
by HufflepuffCub999
Summary: Stella has had a crush on Tom Riddle since her first year. Now, in the middle of her sixth year, things are about to change for the better or for the worse.
1. Potions

**Brief Introduction: I was traveling this weekend and I didn't have the computer to type on my "Hogwarts Marching Band" story so I started this. I would really like feedback on this because I've never written anything like this before. So please, write some comments for me! Now, this is a story back when Tom Riddle was in school and it is about a girl names Stella Riots who is a Slytherin in the same year as Tom. Please enjoy! (And give comments! :D )**

I stared down the hallway. All the way until my eyes found the back of my crush, Tom Riddle. He was no doubt the hottest boy in school. He was definitely the most popular. I was just lucky that he was in the same house as me. That meant that I could stare at him all I wanted. And I had. Ever since the first day of first year when I saw him getting off the train. I was sure that one day, I would date him.

"Hurry up Miss Riot," Professor Dumbledore said coming out of his classroom. "Otherwise you'll be late to your next class. And I'm sure you don't want that."

"No sir," I said to the Gryffindor head. Then I followed his advice and hurried down to Professor Slughorn's classroom in the dungeons.

"Right on time Miss Riot," Slughorn greeted me as I slipped into the room right as the bell echoed a crossed the grounds.

I nodded surveying the room for an empty seat. There was only one empty seat in the room since we had such a big class. I slid into the seat before glancing at who was next to me. I was about to freak out when I did. It was the one and only Tom Riddle.

"Now class, today you will all be making a potion called the Heating Solution," Professor Slughorn told us. "Instructions are on page seventy six of your book. Proceed."

Tom immediately opened his book and started pulling out ingredients. I opened my book a bit slower and bent over to read every instruction before I began. Potions was my worst subject. It had been ever since first year. I don't know what it was but I just couldn't get it. Professor Slughorn had helped me numerous times. He'd even started me on Remedial Potions during my second term of first year. Just so I could get a second chance at mixing the potions with Slughorn's watchful eye on me. I understood the concepts of the potions. Just not how to mix them. I had gotten really lucky on my OWLs. The potion I had to mix was one Professor Slughorn had helped me just weeks before the test. With that and knowing the concepts, I was able to just barely scrape up an 'E' in the class. So here I was. In the NEWT Potions class even though Slughorn and I both knew that I probably shouldn't be here.

After I took out all my supplies, I slowly began mixing my potion. It wasn't long before Slughorn was over at my table to help me though.

"Salamander blood, Stella," he told me. "Salamander blood."

"Sorry," I muttered putting down the vial in my hand which read 'Spider Blood.' I pulled my bag up to try and find my supply of salamander blood. I was only searching for about thirty seconds when Slughorn sighed.

"There's some in the student supplies. And like I've told you before, you need to clean out that bag of yours. It's a total mess."

"I know sir."

"Good. Now get to work. Tom, help her through this will you dear boy?"

Tom nodded. "Of course sir."

Blushing, I hurried away to the supply cabinet. I didn't want Tom to help me! He might be brilliant in Potions but that meant he could judge me for being so horrible at it. Which would then lead him to thinking poorly of me. And if he thought poorly of me, he would never date me. And then, all my fantasies would be ruined.

Hoping my ace wasn't too red, I headed back to my table. I added some of the salamander blood successfully and then turned to look back at my book.

"You know Stella," Tom started (I had to hide a grin when he said my name!). "This potion really isn't that hard. At least not compared to some of the stuff we've done."

"I know," I said. "But I manage to make everything difficult in here."

"That's true," Tome agreed. "I've been watching you struggle for over five years now. I don't know how you managed to get into the NEWT class."

"It's because I understand the concepts," I explained. "I think I got every question on the writing portion correct. It's just mixing them that I get all mixed up on."

"Everyone has their own weakness," Tom told me. "Yours just happen to be Potions. And you're supposed to be stirring clockwise," he pointed out. "Not counterclockwise."

"Oops," I said quickly switching directions. I hated instructions that involved clocks. I could never remember how a real clock worked.

We were quiet for a few moments while I stirred and Tom added a few more ingredients to his own potion.

"How's it going Stella?" Slughorn asked making his way over to check on me.

"Not too bad I suppose. My cauldron hasn't blown up yet or anything."

"Good. Good." Slughorn said smiling at me. "Tom? Do you think she's doing fine?"

Tome nodded. "Yes sir. Only a small mistake so far. Which I'd say is pretty good."

I smiled at the compliment. At least my face wasn't turning red now.

"You're still coming in tonight though. Right Stella?" Slughorn asked. "If I'm correct, you still have to finish up some potion from last week."

I sighed. Even though I'd been taking Remedial Potions for about six years now, they still seemed to last forever. I knew I needed the extra time but it was still frustrating. "Yes sir," I finally said. "Seven 'o'clock sharp."

"Good girl. And make sure you find your salamander blood."

"Okay. I'll look for it."

"That's my girl," Slughorn said. Then he raised his voice for the rest of the class. "You have five minutes left in the class. Fill a goblet full of your potion and leave it on my desk. If you have done that, you are free to leave when the bell rings.

"Five minutes?" I gasped as he walked away. "How am I supposed to finish this in five minutes?"

"Well," Tom said. "The best thing is to not freak out. The second thing is to look at what you have left to do. Only three ingredients left that you need to add. Then stir it for a minute. If you measure out the bits of snake skin, I'll get your other two ingredients ready. Alright?"

Shocked that he could think of that as simple, I nodded. In a daze, I measured out the snake skin. I almost measured out too much but Tom was watching me closely enough that he caught me before I got it poured out. Luckily for me, I got the potion done and on Professor Slughorn's desk before the five minutes were up. "Thanks," I muttered to Tom as we were about to leave the room.

"Anytime," Tom said with a smile.

I expected him to catch up with his friends after we left the Potions classroom. He didn't though. Tom fell into step next to me. Needless to say, I was overjoyed. It only took until our sixth year but my crush was finally noticing me!

"You're on the Quidditch team aren't you?" Tom asked me.

"Yeah. I'm a Chaser."

"That's cool. You're really good at it."

"Thanks. It's a lot of fun."

"I'm sure it is. Do you do any other clubs or anything besides Quidditch then?"

"Nope. Between Quidditch and Remedial Potions, I normally don't have time left to spare."

"You do Remedial Potions?" Tom asked.

I wanted to bury my face in my hands. How could I have forgotten that Tom didn't know that I took Remedial Potions with Slughorn? He only knew that I was lousy at the class. Until now at least. "Yes," I finally said softly.

"Oh," Tom said. He sounded somewhat unsure of what to say next. After a few seconds, finally he said, "I can help you during class if you'd like."

"Thanks for the offer but I don't think it will do much. I've been having the extra Potions lessons since my first year. And since I'm still taking them, it's obvious that I'm just plain lousy at the subject." I told him even though I knew that it would be great to have the extra attention from Tom.

"Then why are you taking the NEWT level class? Why didn't you just drop the class after you finished your OWL?"

"I don't know. I think I thought that since I passed my OWL I would be able to do okay in the NEWT class. Now I can tell that I really shouldn't trust myself when I think stuff like that. But it's too late now. I'll just have to suffer through Potions for another year and a half." I told him even though it wasn't all true. The real reason I'd taken the class was because I'd listened in on what subjects Tom was taking. It was easy since 'Riddle' came right before 'Riot.' When I heard him say he was taking Potions, against my better judgment, I'd signed up for the class as well.

"Not even a year and a half now," Tom pointed out. "We only have about three more months left of school."

"I guess that's true. And then it'll be our seventh year. And then we'll be done with school."

"An exciting though," Tom said, "To be out of this place and into the real world."

I nodded in agreement. It would be nice to get beyond the walls of the castle. I still had no clue what I wanted to do though. As long as I got to travel though I would be fine. Especially if I got to travel to France like I'd wanted to since I was seven.

By now, we'd reached the Great Hall and were sitting down at the Slytherin table. Tom had chosen two seats apart from everyone else. That surprised me a little but I wasn't going to complain about it or anything.

"Stella?" Tom started. "I have a question for you."

"A question?" I repeated.

Tom nodded. "Yes. Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

A smile broke out a crossed my face. Tom took that for a yes and pulled me into his arms for a hug. Let's just say that it was the best moment of my life up until then.


	2. Awkward

Tom and I had been dating no more than a week when a Hogsmeade trip came up for that Saturday. Naturally, Tom and I decided to spend the whole day together. What else would we do though? I mean, we were dating. Besides, Tom was able to have Avery, my Quidditch captain, move the all-day Quidditch practice to Sunday. Maybe it would be nice dating a friend of my captain.

After breakfast, we made our way down the path towards Hogsmeade. I was hoping that Tom would start a conversation. My brain was fried from Friday's classes: Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and, of course, Remedial Potions. Tom though seemed to be having a hard time coming up with something to talk about as well. Between Tom and myself, we must have said "So" in attempt to start a conversation at least twenty times. And that was just the walk down to Hogsmeade.

"So where do you want to go?" Tom asked as we reached the village.

"I don't know. Just as long as we visit Honeydukes before we go."

"Honeydukes? Now Stella, do you really need all that sugar?" he asked teasingly.

I grinned and nodded. "Yep. Especially my Peppermint Toads."

"Peppermint Toads? You like those?"

"I don't like them," I said. Tom looked at me puzzled. "I absolutely love them." I finished. "I would never get through exams or classes without them. Especially not Potions."

Tom shook his head at me. "Oh Stella."

I grinned and then spotted the Three Broomsticks up ahead. "Come on. Let's go get some Butterbeer." I said. "I'm thirsty."

"Okay," Tom agreed. He led me over to the pub and opened the door for me before following me inside. He was such a gentleman.

We got our Butterbeer and then sat down at a table for two off to one side of the crowded room. Neither one of us said anything for a while. We both just stared at our drinks trying to come up with something to say.

"So are you excited for the Quidditch Final next week?" Tom finally asked.

"Two weeks. Next week is just another training session," I told him.

"Oh. Right. Avery just keeps going on and on about it at night."

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked grinning. Avery did talk about nothing but Quidditch.

"Because he's Avery," Tom answered even though I'd meant the question to be rhetorical. "So are you excited for the match?"

"Definitely. Gryffindor's not going to know what hit them." I answered happily. And I did believe it to be true. We were an amazing team this year. Avery had pushed us to the limit and we had become unbeatable.

Tom grinned. "Are the boys tough on you?"

I smiled. I was the only girl on the Slytherin Quidditch team. A fact that the rest of the team never let me forget. They seemed to think that because I was a girl, I was destined to fail. However in the past year or two (I'd been on the team since my second year), they'd finally started to warm up a bit more to me. "They're okay. For the most part," I told Tom. "They've seemed to learn that I'm not leaving the team anytime soon. And that counts for something. I mean, they normally treat me like I'm the same as one of them."

"So you get along with them?"

"Normally."

"Good," Tom said.

There was another long, awful silence. I was beginning to wonder if dating Tom would actually work out. So far we'd spent more time in awkward silence than actually talking. I don't date much so I'm no expert, but even I know that dates shouldn't be spent in silence. This date was proof of that. Between the smiles that looked forced and the silence, it was just too awkward.

"So what's your favorite subject?" I finally asked even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer. And I was pretty sure he knew my favorites. But it was a desperate attempt to talk about something and not sit in silence.

"Potions." He ignored the face I made. "What about you?"

"Charms. And Transfiguration. I'm good at both subjects."

Tom nodded. Then we fell back into silence. I don't know about Tom but I really wanted to scream. My crush for six years was finally noticing me and we were finally on a date. But it just wasn't working out! It was driving me crazy!

Eventually, we left the Three Broomsticks. We didn't have any more conversations than what we'd already said. All I could think about was how my date with Tom should be anything but this. This was just too…Well, just too awkward.

Tom and I walked to Honeydukes and went in Zonkos. Then we decided it was time to head back to the castle. We still had a couple hours before it was required for us to be back but both of us were ready to return and have this date be over with. It wasn't really a surprise to either of us that we walked back in silence. If the whole date had been an awkward silence, why would the walk back to the school be any different?

We made our way back into the castle and then down to the common room in the dungeons. In the common room, I plopped down on a chair near the fire and grabbed my homework from the table where I'd left it last night. I knew I had to get my Potions essay for Remedial Potions done tonight. There was no way I'd get it done after Avery tortured the team during practice tomorrow.

My other goal was to block the date from my mind completely. The most awkward and horrible date ever. Emphasis on the awkward part. I was just glad it was over. Unfortunately for me, Tom decided to sit down on the couch as well. So much for that goal.

**Author Notes: Well, this one was a bit shorter than last chapter. Only 1,000 words exactly. Not counting this note of course. Thanks to winterwinds1234 for reviewing my first chapter! Well, please review and tell me what you think! I'll try and get the next chapter posted soon!  
~Hufflepuffcub999**


	3. Argument

Tom watched as I worked on my essay. I couldn't figure out what was so interesting about me and why he was watching me. I was just writing and looking stuff up in my Potions book. As he watched, he tapped his fingers against his leg every once in a while. I knew this was a habit of his from spending so much time watching him during class. However, this time when I glanced up at his tapping fingers, I noticed a ring on his ring finger. He definitely hadn't been wearing that ring last year. So, me being as curious as I was, I asked him about it.

"Family heirloom," he said simply.

I found this remark just as confusing as the fact that he suddenly had a ring. Tom was an orphan. That was a commonly known fact around here. How was he supposed to get a family heirloom? It made no sense to me. "If you live in an orphanage, how'd you get a family heirloom?" I asked even though I knew I was prying into his own personal business.

"I've been researching and I finally found my uncle this past summer." Tom said.

"Really?" I squealed. "That's great! Is he nice? Do you like him?"

I knew immediately that I'd said the wrong thing. Tom didn't look too happy. I hastened to apologize. "Sorry. I didn't mean anything I was just…" I let my voice trail off. Tom's face hadn't changed.

"Curious," Tom finished for me. "I know. I know. But my family business is for my family. Not yours." His voice didn't sound friendly. His eyes were narrowed as well.

"Well sor-ry," I said splitting the word up to put emphasis on the fact that he was crossing a line. He could have just said he didn't want to talk about it. And then the subject would have dropped. He didn't have to become all cold on me.

"Do you have a problem?"

"Me? Not at all. I am pretty sure that you have the problem here," I said even though I knew my words were not going to go over well with him.

I was right. Tom's eyes flashed with anger. He then proceeded to hiss something under his breath.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Nothing for you to hear."

"If you can mutter it, you can say it out loud," I said. My voice was starting to sound cold as well.

"Wise words but I have a feeling that even you don't follow them."

"And why would you say that?"

"Because everyone mutters under their breath words that they don't intend for everyone to hear."

"This isn't a question of what I do," I said defensively. "This is a question about what you said that you didn't want me to hear."

"Fine," Tom said giving in. "I said 'For someone so smart, you sure know how to act dumb'"

My eyes narrowed and I slammed shut the Potions book that had still been open on my lap. "Are you sure you're talking about me here? Because that statement could also be turned around and used against you."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that I'm talking about you."

"Then you must be mistaken because you are definitely the smart one here. Don't you know that?"

"I'm the smart one here? Stella? Are you calling yourself dumb?"

"Maybe I am. What's it matter to you?"

Tom stood up and crossed his arms. "Are you kidding me Stella?"

"Why would I kid about this Tom?" I asking standing up as well, placing my hands on my hips.

"Come on Stella. You're one of the smartest people in the year!"

"If I'm so smart than why am I the only person in this whole entire school that has to take Remedial Potions? Huh? Answer that one Tom," I snapped.

"It's just one class."

"Just one class? That's one of the classes that the Ministry of Magic actually looks into before hiring someone! They aren't going to hire me if they find out that I can't even brew the simplest of potions! Potions that a first year student should be able to brew."

"You passed your OWL though. Isn't that what matters?"

I glared at him. "My mum was talking to one of the examiners the other day. She found out that I got an Exceeds Exceptions by one point. One point. Uno punto. There's no way I'm going to be able to pass my NEWT. Absolutely no way Tom. And it's the NEWT that matters. Not the OWL."

"It doesn't matter Stella! It's just one class! Don't cut me off!" he cried as I opened my mouth to talk again. "Look at all your other classes. They practically worship you in Transfiguration. And don't even get me started on Charms. Didn't Professor Slughorn say you received seven Outstandings? And with that good of grades, what does one class matter?"

For some reason, his speech did nothing but completely piss me off. I just wanted him to shut up and walk over to the boy's dorm where he belonged. "Shut up Tom!" I finally screamed. "Look at whose talking will ya? You received even more Outstandings than I did, didn't you?" Tom opened his mouth, perhaps to answer my rhetorical question but I just went on talking. "Everyone knows you're the smartest person in the school! You've already received an award for a Special Service to the School!" Something flashed in Tom's eyes as I said that but again, I didn't care. "What's more is everyone says that you're going to become the youngest Minister of Magic ever! So don't be lecturing me on failing a subject when you've never experienced it for yourself!"

"Slughorn says that I'll be the youngest Minister of Magic ever. Not everyone. Just Slughorn."

"Slughorn might as well be everyone."

"Well you know what? Maybe I have my eyes set on a different path from his."

"Then maybe it's time that I jump off that little cart that's traveling down whatever path you're on!" I yelled at Tom.

"Go for it. See if I care."

"I will. And what's more is I'll start my own path that's better than yours."

"How do you know it will be better than mine?"

"Because while your path is just getting narrower and narrower as you become less and less open-minded, my path will be fresh and new."

"You know what Riot?" Tom shouted. I couldn't help but notice the use of my surname. "This never should have happened! We never should have so much as looked at each other."

"A-greed," I said again breaking the word up. At this point, I was so furious that it didn't even register in my brain that my crush for so long was about to walk away from me forever. All I wanted was for him to go away which he did by stomping up to his dorm room.

Once he was gone, I finally glanced around. While Tom and I had been screaming at each other, a crowd had gathered around watching us fight. Even now that we were quiet, they were still standing there. It was as if they didn't know if they should move or not. I ended up just glaring at them and then sitting back down on the sofa and picking up my Potions book again. Even though I picked up the book and dipped my quill in ink, I ended up doing nothing about the essay. All too soon, the events that had taken place that day finally sunk into my head. I ended up crying into my Potions book until I fell asleep nearly an hour later.

**Authors Note: So what do ya'll think? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top review! I really want to know what you guys think of this story. I'm slowly getting ideas for what's coming next but I would love to know what you think. **

**~Hufflepuffcub999~**


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